Friday, December 29, 2006

'Similarity breeds connection' start with new-born

Common sense tell us 'similarity breeds connection'. There is inexorable tendency for human beings to link up one in ways that confirm rather than test our existence. A recent study showed that human have developed this tendency in very early stage - just 3 month old.

Researcher studied infants from three groups: white babies raised among white people; black infants similarly raised among their own people; and black babies raised in a mixed black-and-white environment. Then researchers analyzed whether the babies spent more time looking at the white or black human faces in the testing environment. It has been long believed that longer gazes at one face indicate preference for it.

It turned out that white babies raised in white environments spent an average of 63% more time looking at white faces, and black babies spent 23% more time looking at faces from their own race than the other. Black babies raised in mixed-race environments spent roughly equal amounts of time looking at both types.